Patients with severe, recalcitrant, confluent Darier's disease are treated with either dermabrasion or dermatome stripping. Rate of wound healing is measured by histologic examination of sequential punch biopsies taken after (1) incisional wounds, (2) wounds made by 3mm dermal punches, or (3) sites of dermatome stripped skin. Results indicate that surgical treatment can produce long lasting (over 4 years to date) disease free remissions. Furthermore, wound healing, especially epidermal migration, is more rapid in the diseased skin than in uninvolved skin.